


heat wave run

by blackkat



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hair Braiding, Humor, Mission Fic, Shinobi Summerfest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 20:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20014327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: “Well,” Sakura says, eyeing the other members of her team. “For my first mission as a ANBU captain, that could have gone worse.”





	heat wave run

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moonshadecat](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=moonshadecat).



> My gift for moonshadecat, as part of the Shinobi Summerfest Exchange!

“Well,” Sakura says, eyeing the other members of her team. “For my first mission as a ANBU captain, that could have gone worse.”

“Think positive,” Tenten says, determinedly cheerful, and winces as she tries to undo the tie holding one of her buns in place. Silently, Sakura reaches across the table, shifting her cup of tea out of the way before her elbow can take it out, and Tenten grimaces through her smile. “Thanks.”

There’s a huff, and Kiba pokes Tenten in the shoulder. “Hey, turn this way. I’ll get it for you,” he says, and then mutters, “ _Babies._ It _spawned_ ,” the way he has been ever since Sakura told them what mission they’d gotten.

On the floor beside him, Akamaru lets out a weary, exasperated woof, not even bothering to raise his head.

With an expression of relief, Tenten turns, putting her back to Kiba. “Thanks,” she says, and gives Sakura a bright smile. “You’ve got some leaves, Captain,” she offers, and waves at her own forehead. “Unless you're trying to start a trend. I mean, it’s cute, but a sword would be cuter.”

Swords don’t generally strike Sakura as _cute_ , but she’s also not Konoha's foremost bukijutsu expert, so maybe she’s missing something. With a sigh, she reaches up, smoothing her hands over her head and finding the leafy twigs lodged under her hitai-ate. “Ugh,” she mutters, and deeper into the tea shop, something crashes. It sounds delicate. Konoha is probably going to have to pay for that. Sakura sighs, and pretends not to hear the scrabble of too many monsters converging on whatever broke. In glee, probably, because something else goes flying, too.

“The fact that you thought it was a good idea to wear _string_ in your hair on this of all missions,” Kiba mutters, kneeling up on the cushion to get better access to Tenten's hair. He tugs, frowning, and then winces when Tenten hisses through her teeth. “Sorry, sorry. Ugh, they really did a number on you.”

Tenten makes a face. “I thought I’d tied it tightly enough,” she says, a little sheepishly, and when Sakura levels a look across the table at her she laughs and raises her hands in surrender. “In my defense, it’s been _years_ since I was a genin.”

“Some trauma never fades, no matter what you do,” Kiba says wisely, and then shudders and adds, “ _Babies_.”

Sakura eyes the scratches down the front of her ANBU mask, then deliberately pushes it to the side and glances out the window. The town they're in is mostly deserted, the streets swimming with heat mirage, and she can feel her temperature rising just _looking_ at the sun. the interior of the tea shop feels about thirty degrees cooler, and in a burst of defiance she shrugs out of her vest, dropping it to the side. Against regulations, really, but this mission has special circumstances. She thinks the Hokage will forgive her.

Something metal goes clattering to the ground, skidding across the floor to crash into a wall, and Sakura very deliberately does not turn around to look.

Thankfully, Kiba and Tenten are both ignoring the carnage equally hard. Tongue caught between his teeth, Kiba teases a tattered ribbon out of Tenten's hair, carefully detangling it from where it’s been matted together by an unidentifiable substance. Sweat, probably; the weather outside is exactly the opposite of what they’re dressed for, given ANBU's standard uniforms. They also weren’t expecting the mission to drag on as long as it did, which was probably a mistake on their parts.

“ _Ha_!” Kiba says, and with a snap Tenten's ribbon comes loose, brown hair tumbling down around her shoulders. She makes a sound of relief, pulling it over her shoulder to comb some of the debris out of it, and casts a wry smile at Sakura.

“Plans for getting back to Konoha?” she asks.

Sakura groans, tipping forward to let her head fall against the table. She just misses her cup, which is an exciting turnaround in her luck today; she’d honestly expected to just drown in the very nice white tea.

“Back to Konoha means going _outside_ ,” she says to the tablecloth. “It’s _hot_.”

“Like walking into a wet blanket that’s also on fire,” Kiba agrees, pulling a face, and tugs lightly on Tenten's freed hair. “Hey, want me to braid it? I've done Hana's before.”

“Thanks, Kiba,” Tenten says, casting him a grateful smile. There's a ringing wail from somewhere that echoes, and she winces but doesn’t turn. “Oh, hey! Don’t the shinobi from Shimo use ice? You were there, weren’t you, Sakura?”

“Once,” Sakura agrees, and frowns into the table, trying to remember if she saw any of them using their ice jutsus clearly enough to replicate them. “I think it’s hot enough that anything we tried would just melt, though. And…”

A howl practically rattles the windows, and Kiba flinches.

“Yeah, we’re gonna want all hands available,” he says, and tips Tenten's head a little to get at the other tie. “I think there’s something _stuck_ in this one. Damn it.”

“You can cut it if you have to,” Tenten tells him, and Kiba's expression of horror makes Sakura laugh.

“Hana would kill me, even if it’s _your_ hair I was cutting,” Kiba protests. “Come on, I want to be able to sleep when we got home, and not with one eye open.”

“Sleep sounds nice,” Sakura agrees, and puts a hand in the small of her back, sitting up and stretching as best she can. “This should _definitely_ not be a B-rank.”

“I'm thinking S-rank,” Tenten says wryly, and hisses when Kiba pulls too hard.

“Damn it, sorry.” Kiba makes a face, then asks, “Any more of those cakes left? Akamaru wants one.”

Still sprawled out like a melting mountain, Akamaru whines pathetically, giving Sakura his best wide, pleading eyes.

With a snort, Sakura takes one of them from the tray and sets it down in front of him, then scratches behind his ears. After their morning, she’s decided she’s a dog person, no question. “Is that much sugar really good for him?”

“I'm pretty sure we’re all going to burn off every calorie we’ve ever eaten on the way home,” Kiba says dryly. “Just from being outside in this weather and having to corral _them_.” He grimaces. “Freaking _demon spawn_.”

“Lee is in River Country right now,” Tenten says, a little wearily, and picks up her tea, taking a sip. Stretches out a leg with a sigh that sounds like relief, and laughs when she catches sight of Sakura's horrified grimace. “Right? If it’s so humid there normally, I don’t even want to know what it’s like in the middle of a heatwave.”

“Especially with _Lee_ ,” Sakura says, because she loves Lee, and he’s definitely the best workout buddy anyone could ask for, but he also doesn’t acknowledge normal human limits, and in this weather Sakura is pretty sure she’d die trying to keep up with him.

Something that is very definitely made of glass shatters, and shards of it come spinning past their table. Sakura starts to look automatically, then stops herself. It’s fine. The wards they threw up on every door and window will hold, and Konoha will pay for the damages. It’s _fine_.

She very deliberately takes another sip of tea, and helps herself to a sweet while she’s at it. They’ve gotten this far, after all, and with the mission’s targets, that’s more than success enough to celebrate.

“ _Babies_ ,” Kiba says fiercely, and tugs a vine full of thorns out of Tenten's hair. “Who the _hell_ thought that was a good idea?”

“No one sane,” Sakura agrees, and hums. “The white bean cakes are really good.”

Tenten eyes them speculatively, then her cup. “We’re going to need to make more tea, since we have all those left,” she says.

Sakura laughs. It’s the perfect excuse to stay a little longer. After all, they wouldn’t want to waste food. “I guess we will,” she says, and glances at one of the menus they pulled out. The tea list is impressive, and particularly tempting given the coolness of the shop compared to the brutal summer outside. “Oh, they have varieties from Lightning Country. I've never tried those before.”

“Sounds good,” Kiba says, and Akamaru makes an agreeable noise, thumping his tail against the floor. Leaning over, Sakura checks his bowl, then adds a little more of the white tea to it, since it’s looking low. She _could_ get up and find the other tea, but that would require going into the back, and besides, it’s nice to sit down for a while. Her feet have finally stopped hurting, and she’s in no rush to get back on them.

With a crow of triumph, Kiba pulls a claw from Tenten's remaining ribbon and flicks it away, then tugs the ribbon free. “Got it!” he says, and pulls Tenten's hair back over her shoulders, running his fingers through it. “One braid or two? Or I can do that herringbone thing, or five strands…”

“Your sister’s lucky,” Tenten says with a laugh. “Whatever you want, Kiba.”

Kiba squints at her hair, judging the thickness. “Five strand,” he decides. “It should stay in pretty well, too.” Glancing up, he grins at Sakura, and asks, “I can do a herringbone braid for you, if you want it. maybe two of ‘em? Short hair’s fine for that.”

Sakura's had her hair up in a ponytail for so long that she’s not entirely sure it will come loose if she takes the tie out. “Sure,” she agrees, and grimaces, pulling her hitai-ate free. Considers the time, just for a moment, and the fact that their mission technically has a time limit on it, and—

With a howling shriek, three small bodies race across the floor, skid on the mats, and crash headlong into the far wall. One goes right _up_ it, tearing holes in the delicate screens, and Sakura winces. The other two explode in a snarled mass of tabby fur and spinning claws, and Akamaru yelps, practically flinging himself over Sakura to get out of their path. Tenten lunges to save the cakes, while Kiba plasters himself to the wall and slams his eyes closed, and—

Something crashes, then shatters, and the one on the ceiling drops with a furry splat. It takes off running, the other two following, and the main room settles back into quiet.

“ _Demon spawn_ ,” Kiba says again, pale-faced and wide-eyed, like they just encountered tiger summons instead of kittens.

Sakura is honestly inclined to agree. “I'm going to put us down for hazard pay,” she says, and shifts Akamaru's tail off her lap.

“Yes please,” Tenten says, and winces at another feline howl. “We’re going to have to round them up eventually, aren’t we?”

Sakura trades glances with Kiba. “After we finish the tea,” she says, and smiles. “And I want braids, if you’re still offering, Kiba.”

Kiba laughs, rough and entirely amused. “Of course. Maybe I should open up a stylist shop in the village. _Kiba's Ninja Hairstyles_ , or something.”

“Serve tea like this and I’ll show up every week,” Tenten says, and grins at Sakura. “It could be our de-stress from missions.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sakura agrees, and reaches for the teapot, splitting what’s left between their cups. She’ll make more tea in a minute, but for now, they can all enjoy not moving.

One of the doors to the kitchen, left half-open, thumps like small bodies just collided with it, and Sakura grimaces. The fact that they managed to corner all of their targets in the tea shop is a good enough reason to take another cake, though, so she does.

“ _Tora_ had _babies_ ,” Kiba says, and shudders. “ _Why_?”

“ _Hazard pay_ ,” Sakura repeats, determined, and takes a bite of cake. They deserve it, after all.


End file.
